The following items are excerpted from the Aug. 28, 2008, edition of The Current:
City seeks new deal at marina
A 40-year lease that Spring Point Marina holds with South Portland for 10 acres of waterfront property and a bustling pier will be renegotiated more than a decade before it is due to expire.
The South Portland City Council expressed strong interest Monday night in reopening the lease to improve the terms for the city, which owns the property, and to respond to a request by Port Harbor Marine – the marina operator – to extend the contract beyond May 2020, when it is scheduled to end.
Although the City Council did not take a formal vote, the seven members each voiced support for updating the public-private partnership with Port Harbor Marine, which has developed and expanded business operations since it signed the city’s lease in 1980.
Councilors Claude Morgan and Linda Boudreau will head a negotiating team to include Waterfront Director Tom Meyers, City Manager Jim Gailey, a member of the tax assessor’s office and support from legal counsel. Port Harbor Marine is owned by the Soucy family – brothers Rob, Mike and Marc – who attended the City Council workshop Monday night, which was held at Spring Point Marina.
Maine’s top trucker rolls toward retirement
If you find yourself sharing the road some night with a double FedEx tractor-trailer with an old-fashioned, squared-off cab and a vanity plate that says CHATTA, relax.
That’s Bob Kierstead’s rig, and according to the 2008 Maine Truck Driving Championships judges, Kierstead is the best professional truck driver in the state.
A Scarborough resident and father of five, Kierstead, 63, has logged more than 2.7 million tractor-trailer miles in his 41-year career and has repeatedly blown the competition’s doors in the past 16 years, logging three state champion titles and three trips to the national finals, sponsored by the American Trucking Association.
Over the weekend of Aug. 19-23, Kierstead made what he says was his final trip to the nationals, joining 400 other top drivers from around the U.S.
He placed 12th in his division – not as high as his ninth- place finish in 1991, but nothing to sneeze at. The competition included oral interviews, tests on first aid and firefighting, and timed agility tests that involve maneuvering a double trailer on a tight, indoor course without disturbing rubber ducks and tennis balls.
Pig roast brings Scarborough neighbors together
The smell drifting across the manicured lawns of modern, cape-style Scarborough homes last week was reminiscent of the first hearth fires of fall – acrid smoke, green wood and air just beginning to take on a bite.
There was a robust, meaty tone to this aroma, a whiff of wild things and bygone times that instantly ruled out the usual suspects when similar aromas are in the air – such as Oscar Myer wieners and pre-shaped, pre-frozen meat patties.
When Gunstock Road does barbecue, there’s no namby-pamby, stainless steel, fat-draining, electric plug-in George Foreman grill. Try deep-fried turkeys and a good old-fashioned, 150-pound pig on a stick.
Resident Dick Boardman started the neighborhood pig roast 29 years ago in Maryland as a way to get to know his neighbors, and imported it to Scarborough when he moved there with his family 11 years later. Today, the
Gunstock Pig Roast – held Aug. 21-24 – is a four-day event, complete with a golf outing, a kids’ bike rally, face-painting, games, outdoor movies, live music and about 150 neighbors.
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